In 1976, the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) made the decision to ordain women to pastoral ministry. Fifty years on, the denomination is celebrating that milestone — not merely as an institutional anniversary but as a living testimony to the work of God through countless women whose calls to ministry were recognised, nurtured, and deployed across the church's more than 800 congregations in the United States and Canada.
The ECC, a multi-ethnic denomination rooted in the Swedish free church Pietist tradition, has long held that the Holy Spirit distributes gifts without regard to gender. Its formal decision in 1976 to open ordained ministry to women placed it ahead of many of its evangelical peers, and the anniversary year has prompted fresh theological and personal reflection across the Covenant. Writing in the Covenant Companion, denominational leader Tammy Swanson-Draheim describes her own journey of calling — one shaped not by seeing women in pulpits during her childhood, but by being formed by women who taught Scripture, prayed, and modelled steady faith. "I was pastored by women at every stage of my life," she writes, citing Psalm 68:11: "The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng."
Swanson-Draheim's path to ministry included a season of returning to faith after what she calls a "parenthesis" in her walk with Jesus, followed by a clear sense of call born from experiencing rejection in church and resolving to ensure no one else would feel unwelcome. After seminary at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, she navigated a season of hearing "many no's before a yes" — an experience she notes is common among women in ministry. The anniversary, she concludes, is a moment of gratitude "for those who came before us, for those who serve alongside us, and for those who will come after us." The ECC's 2026 annual theme, "One Another," drawn from the New Testament's many commands to mutual love and service, frames the celebration as an expression of the whole church's shared mission.
For free church formation resources including this topic, visit Worldwide Evangelical Seminary.
Source: Evangelical Covenant Church / Covenant Companion — covchurch.org
